Black colleges struggle to reopen

The grossly negligent manner in which the Bush administration along with local and state agencies handled the Hurricane Katrina disaster has helped to lay bare just how deeply racism and poverty are rooted in the U.S. capitalist system.

As the entire U.S. population and much of the world witnessed, those who were left to fend for themselves without food, water, adequate shelter and health care for days and even weeks after Katrina hit New Orleans and other areas of the Gulf Coast were mostly poor and working-class African Americans.

There are other areas of society where this disaster exposed the racist inequality that exists in society. Take, for instance, the area of higher education. In New Orleans, the area hardest hit by the hurricane, the two most notable universities are Tulane and Loyola, both Division One members of the NCAA.

These two colleges are predominantly white with large endowments. Tulane, the most prestigious of the two, has an endowment of $745 million. It is also the largest private employer in Orleans Parish.

When the hurricane hit, while tens of thousands of students at both colleges were forced to evacuate, there was minimum damage to the structures of these schools. The school administrations for both of these colleges expect to receive insurance reimbursements for any revenue lost when the schools were forced to close down, as well as for any storm damage.

It is a different story altogether for Dillard and Xavier, two historically African-American universities also located in New Orleans. Like most predominantly Black private colleges elsewhere, Dillard and Xavier have much smaller enrollments, with a combined student body of 6,000, and have much smaller endowments—$50 million each—and a more moderate, vulnerable infrastructure.

So when a natural disaster like Katrina hits, these colleges feel the pain much more intensely. Severe damage was done to the buildings and grounds at Xavier and Dillard. At Xavier, there was six feet of water in the library and a waterlogged chapel. At Dillard, a post-hurricane fire destroyed dormitories and ruined the student book store. The entire campus was covered with poisonous waters for two whole weeks before the water was pumped out. While both colleges had insurance for wind damage, there was no insurance for flood damage.

Xavier’s president, Dr. Norman C. Francis, remarked, “I don’t have an endowment I can take money from. If I can’t recover the money we expected for the first semester to pay faculty and staff and pay our bills, we’re standing here naked. We have nothing. And what we’re looking for now is the help we need so we won’t be severely crippled in our ability to come back.” (New York Times, Sept. 25)

The U.S. Department of Education announ ced that it was going to provide $90 million in student aid to 31 institutions impacted by the hurricane. This is a pittance compared to what is really required to get these colleges up and running as soon as possible. Xavier alone is requesting upwards of $90 million for recon struction of its campus. As it stands now, Xavier and Dillard plan to reopen their doors by early January, but this depends on whether they get help from public and private monies. A large portion of students at both colleges depend on financial aid.

Xavier is known for graduating more Black doctors, scientists and pharmacists than any other undergraduate institution. This is a remarkable achievement considering that in the U.S. more young Black men are incarcerated than are in college.